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Christopher Daniel Barnes
| birthplace = Portland, Maine | played = Spider-Man Ben Parker Spider-Carnage Spider-Man (Armored) Scarlet Spider Spider-Man (Mechanical Arms) Spider-Man (Six Arms) Spider-Man (Actor) Villager Video Game Voice | image2 = Spider-Peter.jpg }} Christopher Daniel Barnes (born November 7, 1972), also credited as C. D. Barnes and C. B. Barnes, was a prominent child and teenage actor. To comic book fans he is best known for having voiced Spider-Man, Ben Parker (when Brian Keith was unavailable), Spider-Carnage, Spider-Man (Armored), Scarlet Spider, Spider-Man (Mechanical Arms), Spider-Man (Six Arms), and Spider-Man (Actor) on and Spider-Man Cartoon Maker. He went on to voice , , , a villager, and a video game voice on . He would go on to play in the video games ''Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions'' as Spider-Man Noir, Spider-Man: Edge of Time as Spider-Man 2099, Marvel Heroes as the symbiote Spider-Man and Superior Spider-Man, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 as Donald Menken, Spider-Man Unlimited as Electro and Vulture, and Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order as Electro. Biography Early Life Christopher Daniel Barnes was born on November 7th, 1972 in Portland, Maine. He began acting professionally when he was just eight years old where he used the stage name C.B. Barnes. At the age of thirteen his family moved from Maine and he began acting in over one hundred television commercials. Barnes was for a time the teenage spokesman for Greenpeace. Barnes was a big Spider-Man fan as a child.Archives at Marvel Animation Age Acting His first major role was in ''American Dreamer''. He worked for two years on ''As the World Turns''. He got work in the television movie Picking Up the Pieces. One of Barnes' earliest hits was as Scott Hayden in the ''Starman'' television series, running from 1986 to 1987. His father was played by Robert Hays, who would go on to play Iron Man on both and Barnes' series . Coincidentally, the comics would develop a father-son relationship between Spider-Man and Iron Man. In 1988 he played Ross Harper on ''Day by Day''. He felt Hays played a great father and was a good mentor to him. During this time columnists and pundits predicted a "big career" for Barnes. He also worked on the CBS Schoolbreak and ABC Weekend specials. To film audiences, Barnes is known best for his portrayal as Prince Eric in the 1989 film ''The Little Mermaid'', which he got when we was only sixteen. Despite his age, the producers cast him because he sounded much older. He claims that the movie is his favorite of all the Walt Disney films. Barnes liked the idea that being in a Disney movie would last forever, something he could show to his grandchildren. He went on to reprise the role in the 2002 video game ''Kingdom Hearts II'' along with Kevin Michael Richardson and Corey Burton. Eric was also played by fellow actor Rob Paulsen in the direct to video sequel and actor Jeff Bennett in the television series. He then starred in a number of television films such as The Wonderful World of Disney television film ''Exile'' and Just Perfect in 1990. The next year he would go on to play in Frankenstein: The College Years and later in Murder Without Motive: The Edmund Perry Story. He would later appear in the anthology series ''Real Ghosts'' and Spring Fling!. He voiced several additional voices in ''Captain Planet and the Planeteers'', that ran between 1990 and 1996. In 1991 he did some voice work for the video game ''Police Quest III: The Kindred''. Spider-Man Though his most successful and popular role would be in the five season long , in which Barnes played the title character in all sixty-five episodes. The series is the second longest animated series based on a Marvel Comics property behind , and thus is the actor to play the character the most. Barnes had to fight for the part. He joked that he bit and clawed the other actors for the role. He went in feeling that he would get it, and when he saw Sara Ballantine, who played Mary Jane Watson, that he would see her when the show started. He said "I grew up on ''Spider-Man comics. I knew exactly who he was, his quips, his humor and his burden, so I had a strong feeling I would get the part." One of the actors he beat for the part was Billy Campbell.Archives at ''Marvel Animation Age In an interview Barnes said of the role, "I'm keeping Peter Parker a nice, sweet guy. He would be really cool, except he has all this pressure and responsibility. He's not a geek, he's just so burdened by saving the world that people don't understand him." He stated that when voicing Peter he made his voice higher and more innocent while he went deeper for Spider-Man.Archives at Marvel Animation Age He felt the line "With great power comes great responsibility" was not as pretentious as Superman's "Truth, justice, and the American way" and gave the character a mythical hero quality. He enjoyed the idea that Spider-Man had to save people. He felt character was noble in that he acknowledges and admits his problems while overcoming them. The episode featured a flashback of Uncle Ben. Brian Keith was unavailable so Barnes filled in for the few lines. Barnes did narration work in several electronic versions of classic Spider-Man comics that were released at the time. These comics also featured animation and theme music from the series. He enjoyed that the series got to be more serious than previous works like and . He often recorded his lines with others in the scene. His favorite villain of the series was Hobgoblin for the way Mark Hamill portrayed him. He stated "This guy's really intense, so I've really got to be a hero!" He noted that Hobgoblin was much different than Hamill's portrayal of Joker from the DC Animated Universe. He also liked Kraven the Hunter. He found The Alien Costume trilogy difficult to play as Peter was battling his own costume. He said that it was "really spiritual in a weird way." He did enjoy the way Hank Azaria transformed from Eddie Brock into Venom and how extreme he was. He attempted to mimic what Azaria was doing when Peter has the symbiote in order to foreshadow the villain. Barnes went even deeper and grittier for those episodes. Of Edward Asner Barnes said that he was fearless, willing to say anything anytime to anyone. He noted that Asner could deliver a perfect reading in one take, despite taking little naps between his lines.Archives at Marvel Animation Age He really liked story editor John Semper, Jr.. He claimed was the coolest guy and compared him to a combination of Spider-Man and Doctor Strange, his two favorite Marvel Comics heroes. When he found out that Hays was voicing Iron Man on Barnes was extremely excited at the idea of doing a crossover with his Starman co-star. He wished he could have done a live-action Spider-Man movie, hoping that James Cameron would have called him as he was making a Spider-Man movie at the time. He said "I've fought Venom so many times, I would hate to see somebody else get the chance!" Though followed Barnes, like the rest of the cast and crew, had been replaced by Rino Romano. After Marvel During the 1990s Barnes made small appearances on ''The Golden Girls'', ''Herman's Head'', ''Time Trax'', ''Empty Nest'', ''Blossom'', ''Wings'', ''Clueless'', ''Beverly Hills, 90210'', ''JAG'', ''7th Heaven'', ''Girlfriends'', and ''Touched by an Angel''. Barnes would return to film as Greg Brady in the two parody movies ''The Brady Bunch Movie'' in 1995 and ''A Very Brady Sequel'' in 1996. Interestingly, in the Day by Day episode "A Very Brady Episode" Barnes' character has a dream where he is in the series ''The Brady Bunch'' as the long-lost brother "Chuck." Also of interest, Barnes shares a birthday with original Peter Brady actor Christopher Knight. During his breaks he would try to visit the sets of [http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Star_Trek:_Deep_Space_Nine Star Trek: Deep Space Nine] and [http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Star_Trek:_Voyager Star Trek: Voyager], which was filming next door, but found security too tight. Between 1996 and 2000 Barnes played Leonard Rickets in ''Malcolm & Eddie''. He played in the direct to video film A Pig's Tale. He returned to video game work in 1998 with ''Return to Krondor''. In 1999 Barnes voiced Stripes the Tiger in ''Sonic Underground'' and in 2000 he voiced Target McStone in ''Jackie Chan Adventures''. He would voice Scott Donovan in both the 2002 game ''Law & Order: Dead on the Money'' and in 2003 with ''Law & Order: Double or Nothing''. Barnes returned to Disney work in 2002 when he voiced Prince Charming in the direct to video movies ''Cinderella II: Dreams Come True'' and again in 2007 in ''Cinderella III: A Twist in Time''. He starred in the 2004 film ''Shut Up and Kiss Me''. Return to Marvel In 2010 he returned to the comic book world by playing Spider-Man Noir in the video game ''Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions''. The game also features the voices of Neil Patrick Harris, Dan Gilvezan, and Josh Keaton, each of whom voiced Spider-Man in a different animated series. He also teamed up with fellow voice actors , Jim Cummings, and Jennifer Hale. Though Cummings is the only actor he actually interacts with in the game. Barnes said of accepting the role, "I am a huge Spider-Man fan – to be involved in this, you have to be a fan." Since he had been mostly inactive as an actor, he quickly said yes to voicing the character again. "I had put all this acting stuff aside and moved into a different phase of my life, and they called me," he said. "When you go into the voice booth, it all comes back." However, the voice director told him to play this alternate universe version of Spider-Man as older, darker, and more cynical. "So basically, he’s me. This new character is much more appropriate for me now. Noir is so dark...I felt oppressed in the performance. It’s a great honor to assume that character. You’re the latest incarnation of an icon, and you have to honor it." The following year he voiced Spider-Man 2099 in Spider-Man: Edge of Time, partially a sequel to Shattered Dimensions, with Keaton voicing Amazing Spider-Man. He played Symbiote Spider-Man and Superior Spider-Man on ''Marvel Heroes''. Most recently, Barnes played a variety of voices on including , , , a villager, and a video game voice. He would reprise the role of Electro as well as playing Vulture for the mobile game ''Spider-Man Unlimited'', unrelated to the series , as well as just Electro for ''Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order''. He went on to play Donald Menken in the movie-based game ''The Amazing Spider-Man 2''. Personal Life At some point he married actress Dawn Nallick, but they have since divorced. In 2012 he married Rebecca Guyadeen and are still together. Outside of acting Barnes enjoys to read, play the guitar, and practice yoga. Before yoga, Barnes was a martial artist of different styles including Shotokan, Kenpō, and Tai chi chuan. Just recently, he earned his Master's Degree and planned to begin a doctoral program in 2010. Roles Spider-Peter.jpg|Spider-Man Ben Handed Destroyer Statue.jpg|Ben Parker Spidercarnage.jpg|Spider-Carnage Scarlet Spider.jpg|Scarlet Spider Spider-Peter Armored.jpg|Spider-Man (Armored) Spider-Man Octo Arms.jpg|Spider-Man (Mechanical Arms) Spider-Man Alternate Six Arms.jpg|Spider-Man (Six Arms) Spider-Man Actor.jpg|Spider-Man (Actor) Electro USM.jpg|Electro (Marvel Universe) References External Links *Twitter *Facebook *Instagram *Internet Movie Database *Behind the Voice Actors *TV.com *Wikipedia *Disney Wiki *Spider-Man Animated Wiki *The Brady Bunch Wiki Category:Voice Actors Category:Spider-Man (TV Series) Category:Ultimate Spider-Man Category:Walt Disney Film Actors Category:Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions Actor